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Female officers and the ethic of care: Does officer gender impact police behaviors?

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  • Rabe-Hemp, Cara E.

Abstract

Most of the empirical literature on gender and policing has assessed gender differences in arrest levels and police use of force. While simple gender differences in police behavior are important for understanding skills men and women bring to the policing occupation, research must also determine under what conditions gender differences emerge and what factors impact the relationship between officer gender and behavior for this knowledge to be constructive. Although sexy, arrest and force decisions occur when police discretion is often limited, adding little to the knowledge of how gender affects everyday police-citizen encounters. Using data from systematic social observations of police-citizen encounters in St. Petersburg, Florida and Indianapolis, Indiana, this article replicates past analyses of gender differences in police utilization of controlling and supporting behaviors, but also extends the analyses by assessing the possible impact of intervening situational and organizational characteristics, determining under what conditions female officers utilize different behaviors from their male counterparts. The findings provide mixed support for the general hypothesis of gender-specific responses. Consistent with previous literature, this research suggests that women are much less likely than men to utilize extreme controlling behavior, such as threats, physical restraint, search, and arrest. Surprisingly, the findings do not confirm that women are more likely than men to use supporting behaviors, even when controlling for women's greater likelihood to hold community policing assignments. These findings, while unexpected, are important. Simply assuming female officers manifest stereotypically feminine traits in policing tasks is clearly an overly simplistic conceptualization of the meaning and impact of gender in policing. The implications for female officers, policing, and future research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Rabe-Hemp, Cara E., 2008. "Female officers and the ethic of care: Does officer gender impact police behaviors?," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 426-434, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcjust:v:36:y::i:5:p:426-434
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Belknap, Joanne & Douglas McCall, K., 1994. "Woman battering and police referrals," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 223-236.
    2. Engel, Robin Shepard, 2002. "Patrol officer supervision in the community policing era," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 51-64.
    3. Daniels, R. Steven & Baumhover, Lorin A. & Formby, William A. & Clark-Daniels, Carolyn L., 1999. "Police discretion and elder mistreatment: A nested model of observation, reporting, and satisfaction," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 209-225, May.
    4. Brandl, Steven G. & Stroshine, Meghan S. & Frank, James, 2001. "Who are the complaint-prone officers?: An examination of the relationship between police officers' attributes, arrest activity, assignment, and citizens' complaints about excessive force," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 521-529.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anne Li Kringen & Madeleine Novich, 2018. "Is it ‘just hair’ or is it ‘everything’? Embodiment and gender repression in policing," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 195-213, March.
    2. Huff, Jessica, 2021. "Understanding police decisions to arrest: The impact of situational, officer, and neighborhood characteristics on police discretion," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

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